


new beginnings burn our feet

by virotutis



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Gen, title change from where the heart is to new beginnings burn our feet!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-02 22:59:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8686684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virotutis/pseuds/virotutis
Summary: “Corrin,” Azura says in greeting when the call goes through, the cheap speakers of the Pokénav slightly distorting her quiet, musical voice.
  “Azura,” Corrin greets in return, and doesn’t say anything else. 
  There are too many things that she could say, with too many variants of how are they taking this are they mad at me and this was an awful idea, i’ll go back right now heavy on her tongue, tying it into painful knots. 
  She doesn’t say either and instead, settles with, “Nohr is really cold. Like, really, really cold.” 
Corrin runs away from home and leaves for a new region in an attempt at self-discovery.





	1. the ocean's waves

**Author's Note:**

> i don't even know where i'm trying to go with this au at all???? hmu on twitter @dragonstreams if you want to complain about this au bc i would.

Nohr, Corrin realizes immediately after stepping out of the doors of the train station, is _cold_. Much colder than she had expected. The Togepi in her arms chirrups in distress at the cold, snuggling into the warmth of her coat while he whines.

She shushes him gently, but she shivers too when a blast of wind hits her at full-force, the chill still biting despite the warmth of her pull-over sweater and coat. She pulls the Togepi in closer to her, and begins looking for the bright red roof of the town’s Pokémon Center.

Azura had warned her that the weather of her home region was different from what she was used to back in Hoshido, but Azura didn’t exactly tell her that Nohr was chilly enough to make her fingers go numb within ten minutes of being outside.

She can’t tell if Azura had accidentally kept the information from her, thinking that just saying that the weather was different was enough of a warning, or if Azura had just simply dismissed that fact and deemed it unimportant to go into more detail at the time, when Corrin was in the middle of packing her bags.

Corrin loves Azura and adores her like a sister, but sometimes, she just can’t understand Azura’s way of thinking. It’s like her default setting is mysterious and secretive— which helps her image when she performs in Contests, but isn’t very helpful when you’re trying to get actual information from her.

At the very least, Corrin is lucky that she took Azura’s vague advice and dressed warmly when she left home anyway. They’ll be having a conversation about this later, after Corrin has gotten herself a place to stay for the night.

It doesn’t take her long to find where the Center is and begin walking over to it, but it’s long enough for the Togepi to whine loud enough that she has to place it back into his Pokéball. Little Kana will cry about it later, but Corrin doesn’t want him to get ill from the cold.

He’s still young, only having hatched three weeks ago, and Corrin wouldn’t have brought him with her when she made the decision to cross the Bottomless Canyon and go off to a distant land on her own with only a team of Pokémon borrowed from her siblings at her side if he wasn’t already so attached to her.

The little Togepi would already begin to sniffle if she let him out of her arms for more than a minute. She wouldn’t want to imagine how he would react if she left him back in Hoshido.

Mother had said it was normal for a newborn Pokémon to be having separation anxiety, considering that Corrin was its primary caretaker, when she had asked about why the Togepi wailed so loudly every time she left the room without him and he couldn’t see her.

But Takumi had looked at her, with his judging gaze, and raised an eyebrow at the swaddled Togepi in her arms, and asked her if the Togepi was her Pokémon or if Kana was her actual child.

Her brother had meant it as a joke, but she didn’t have an answer for him then, and still doesn’t have one now.

—

Despite the cultural differences that Nohr and Hoshido have, at the very least they share a singularity regarding their Pokémon Centers and Mart additions. They’re both still run by the Anna sisters.

There’s something in Corrin’s chest that loosens at the sight of a familiar face so far from home— even if this Anna isn’t actually one of the Anna sisters that she’s met before during her travels of Hoshido, and it doesn’t take very long for her to manage to talk the Anna manning the healing station into letting her stay the night for free.

(Which was the actual price of staying at a Center, according to the law. Or at least, that’s what Takumi had told her, when he found out that she was actually paying the Anna sisters to borrow a room for the night back when she was challenging the Hoshidan gyms.

Takumi had yelled at her for being so gullible, and then yelled at the Anna that had the audacity to actually take her money.)

The room she’s been given is fairly small, with only a single bed and a desk in the corner of the room. It’s more than enough for her, and she’s glad for the privacy that a room for a single person gives her when she lets Kana out of his Pokéball and, as predicted, the Togepi begins to cry.

Corrin manages to shush him fairly quickly when she takes him into her arms and starts to bounce him, but he’s loud enough to attract the attention of the people in the neighboring rooms considering that someone pounds on the wall before she managed to get him to stop.

Kana almost goes off again at the sound, but Corrin has had him long enough to know how to best distract him and cuts off the new wave of tears by feeding him a Poké Puff.

He’s too distracted eating to do more than sniffle at her, and she wipes away the tear tracks on his small face with a tissue. She feels like a mother. Takumi would laugh at the sight.

She calls Azura on her Pokénav when Kana is finished with the Puff and she’s wiped his tiny mouth clean, not looking at the number of missed calls she has.

(That’s a lie. She does take a look, even if it makes her feel awful and sick with guilt. The red of the _38 Missed Calls_ _and 29 Missed Texts_ message burns her, and she has to stop for a long moment, closing her eyes and clenching them tight.

She still doesn’t call back or look at the texts though.)

“Corrin,” Azura says in greeting when the call goes through, the cheap speakers of the Pokénav slightly distorting her quiet, musical voice.

“Azura,” Corrin greets in return, and doesn’t say anything else.

There are too many things that she could say, with too many variants of _how are they taking this are they mad at me_ and _this was an awful idea, i’ll go back right now_ heavy on her tongue, tying it into painful knots.

She doesn’t say either and instead, settles with, “Nohr is really cold. Like, really, really cold.”

There’s a brief pause before Azura laughs, one that’s louder than usual, and the reply comes in between her giggles. “Yes, I would assume so, considering it’s the middle of the night.”

With the sound of Azura’s laughter in her ears, the lump in Corrin’s throat relaxes ever-so-slightly and the guilt doesn’t feel so overwhelming for a moment. For a moment, she feels okay.

But it ends soon enough when Azura’s giggles fade and the woman sighs into the receiver of her Pokénav. “Takumi locked himself in his room,” she murmurs softly, and Corrin feels her heart stop.

“Oh,” Corrin says, because that’s the only thing she can say right now. “What happened? Is he okay?”

Azura lets out another sigh. “There was... an argument. Takumi had wanted to go after you and bring you back and Hinoka had supported this idea, while Ryouma and Sakura wanted you to come back on your own terms. Takumi was insistent that we find you. He was overwhelmed by his worry for you, and ended up saying some rather unkind words.”

“ _Damn it_ , Takumi _,_ ” Corrin groans, because she should’ve expected Takumi to react like this. Her younger brother was always someone who defaulted to aggressive behavior when he was upset. “What did he say?”

There’s a brief pause, before Azura speaks again, voice near a whisper. “He had said that by not going after you, it proved that we didn’t care for you enough and this was the reason why you left. Because we didn’t love you enough.”

Corrin’s breath catches at the wavering of Azura’s voice, and she feels like punching her brother in the face. “Azura,” she says, planning to sound firm and confident but only sounding vaguely desperate. “You know that’s not why I left. I know that I know that you all love me.”

“I know,” Azura replies, but her voice is still unsteady. “Ryouma had yelled at Takumi for saying those things. I’ve… never seen him so angry before. It made Sakura cry, and Mikoto had to come in to stop them from continuing the fight. Takumi then went into his room, and Ryouma hasn’t left the dojo since.”

Corrin thinks that she’s going to be sick, and her next words come out strangled. “And Hinoka and Sakura?”

“Sakura and Hinoka are both distraught, but they can understand why you left. Hinoka still wants to go after you with Takumi, but she won’t act immediately. However, Ryouma is… upset at himself. He feels as if he is the one that drove you away, and Takumi’s rather thoughtless words didn’t help.”

“It’s not his fault,” Corrin mutters almost automatically because it really wasn’t. It’s not her older brother’s fault that she felt like she had to leave Hoshido. It’s not Ryouma’s fault that she’s currently ruining their family right now. “It’s not.”

“I’ve tried to explain it to him, but he’s not currently in the shape to listen.” Azura sounds tired. “He won’t let anyone inside the dojo. Your mother is trying to talk some sense into him, but she also has to keep an eye out for Takumi just in case.”

“Azura, I,” Corrin starts suddenly, words tumbling out of her throat, but she stops, swallowing hard instead. “I…”

 _I’m sorry_ , she wants to say. _I didn’t mean for this to happen_. _I don’t want this to happen. I’m sorry._

“Corrin,” Azura says firmly, and Corrin bites her tongue with how fast she closes her mouth. “It’s fine. You don’t have to say anything more. We understand. It’ll be okay. This is only the first day, after all.”

Corrin knows that Azura’s words are intended to reassure her, to tell her that the initial reaction is always the most explosive and that her family will calm down soon. But all Corrin can hear is that this is only the first day out of who knows how many, and her family is already falling apart.

“Go to sleep, Corrin,” Azura tells her, voice gentle. “It’s getting late. You’ll need the rest if you plan to be travelling Nohr.”

“Alright,” Corrin ends up replying, but her voice doesn’t sound like her own. “Alright. Goodnight, Azura. I’ll call you tomorrow?”

“Yes, of course. Goodnight,” Azura says before hanging up, and Corrin is left staring up at the ceiling of her borrowed room, wondering if she’s made the mistake of a lifetime.

She doesn’t get any sleep that night.


	2. destined to seek

Positions in the Hoshidan League are not technically hereditary, despite assumptions otherwise.

The roles of the Elite Four in any region’s League are assigned to any capable trainer who passes the initial aptitude test and meets the standards of the other members before being approved by the current Champion.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that the Championship and the status of the Elite Four in Hoshido has always been occupied by Byakuya family since the founding of the League. The first Champion’s child became the next one, and the position continued to be handed down from generation to generation.

Sumeragi had held the position of Champion before the role was passed to Corrin’s mother after he decided to step down. Then, when Mother vacates the position, Ryouma will take it up. That’s how it is.

It’s always been passed down throughout the family without fail as their unspoken birthright.

That’s why Corrin, who only had a team made up of Pokémon that her siblings had lent her, was someone who was intended to become part of the Elite Four, even though there were other people who were more skilled at battling than she was who would fit the position much better.

While she might not be from the Byakuya bloodline, her mother was the current reigning Champion and her older brother, foster brother he may be, would be the next one. That would ensure her status as a member of the League, even if she was Mikoto’s bastard daughter.

This is something that she learns during her travels of Hoshido when she’s cajoled by Ryouma to follow tradition and embark on her very own Pokémon journey just like the rest of her siblings, going off to challenge the gyms of the region with a team her family created for her.

It’s in Mokushu where she hears it for the first time, straight from the mouth of the Gym leader there, the words snarled fiercely and spat in her face. _You only won because you’re a Byakuya. Don’t get cocky about your actual skill level, brat. You’re nothing without your family._

No one else says those exact words to her face besides him, but she can hear their echoes in other phrases. She can hear them muttered in quiet conversations between civilians that die down whenever she walks by.

And this is why, after collecting eight Hoshidans badges to establish her strength and earn herself the ability to challenge the League like Ryouma wanted her to do, she had went home and packed her bags before leaving on a train to Nohr in the middle of the night.

—

The night feels like it lasts an eternity.

Kana had fallen asleep quickly due to the fatigue of crying, but Corrin was too anxious to get any actual rest, lying on her back and staring up at the ceiling blankly.

She was uneasy and too bothered with worry over her family to be able to sleep, wondering if Mother had managed to convince Ryouma to come out of the dojo yet and if Takumi really would go after her.

While she knew that Azura would do her best to cover for her and help misled any effort made to look for her, Corrin had also known how stubborn and determined Takumi can be. If he had decided to put full effort into hunting her down, then she knew that it would only be a matter of time before he found her.

She doesn’t want to be found. She’s not ready yet, to have to go home and look her mother and her siblings in the eye and explain herself to them.

Not when she doesn’t have the right words just yet to define the heavy weight in her chest that hinders her breathing when she thinks about the Hoshidan League and the slot in the Elite Four reserved for her.

Or when there are streaks of vague and irrational anger that simmers in her whenever she looks in the mirror and sees the hints of her mother on her face before she sees herself. Corrin isn’t ready yet to have to tell them the reason that she left.

She knows that Takumi, at the very least, will get it though, if she had told him the truth instead of just leaving without a word.

(They’re the closest in age, and they’ve been attached to the hip since their first meeting when Mother had gently coaxed her away from her leg, slowly prying the cotton of her skirt out of Corrin’s clenched fist, and said, “This is Takumi, your new younger brother. Treat him well, Corrin.”

She had wanted to dart back to her hiding place from behind her mother, still shy and afraid of strangers at age five, but Takumi, young and four years old and still open and wearing his heart on his sleeve, had smiled at her brightly.

He had given her a toothy smile, showing her the gaps in his teeth from missing baby teeth, and his eyes had positively shone through his messy gray bangs, and Corrin had decided then and there that she loved him and that she was going to be the best big sister for him ever.)

Corrin was the one that he used to run to whenever he had skinned his knee running around when they were little, even though the only thing she could do for him was kiss his cheek and wipe away his tears before holding his hand and leading him over to Mother for help.

And, on the night of the official announcement of him becoming the new Flying specialist of the Elite Four, Corrin was the one that he came to at three in the morning, confessing his fears and self-doubt with tears on his cheeks.

He spoke about his frustration at being overshadowed by Ryouma, his resentment at the unfairness of type match-ups and how Ryouma would always have the advantage over him, with his electric types.

Takumi had told her then that he was afraid of not being good enough, curled up next to her with his head resting on chest like they were seven and six again, instead of nineteen and eighteen. That he was concerned about not being strong enough to be a part of the League.

So Corrin knows that Takumi will understand, that he knows the feelings that she’s carrying like an albatross around her neck like the back of his hand, and it’s exactly why she didn’t tell him a thing.

Unlike her, Takumi is strong and capable, immensely skilled and talented.

Even if he worried about his self-worth, there’s no question that he earned his new position, using a team that he built-up from scratch on his own and managing to defeat over half of Ryouma’s team during his aptitude test.

He’s not the one that barely managed to get through with an assembled team of Pokémon trained by her family, who can only accomplish things because of her family’s influence.

Takumi has too much already on his shoulders without having to deal with her own insecurities as well. She’s the older sibling; she can’t place that burden on him like that.

It's why she had run to Nohr in the first place, away from Hoshido and the Hoshidan League and her future position, to be able to deal with these feelings on her own and figure out a way to handle them without having to burden anyone with them.

(Although, it’s not like disappearing on them is the best solution to the situation either, a voice inside her that sounds like a disappointed Azura says. Either way, you’re still hurting them emotionally.

The only benefit that running away like a coward has is that you aren’t physically there to see the fallout and watch your family fall apart before your eyes.

Corrin tells it to shut up immediately, but the damage has already been done, and a fresh wave of guilt hits her like a tidal wave, tears welling up in her eyes and her chest shaking minutely from repressed shudders.)

—

By the time the sun rises, Corrin is more than ready to leave the PokéCenter after grabbing a quick, light breakfast from the Center’s cafeteria. The food isn’t the best, but food is food, and Corrin can’t be too picky now that she’s on her own in a completely new region.

One of the Anna’s running the Mart that she starts a conversation with over nursing her cup of watery coffee updates her Pokénav to include a map of Nohr, muttering something about unfair legal obligations to have to help new region travelers free of charge.

“Where are you headed?” the Anna running the healing station asks her when she swaddles a still-sleeping Kana in a small blanket that Sakura had knitted for him when he first hatched, getting ready to depart.

Corrin doesn’t have an answer, not having any exact destination in mind right now. All her information about Nohr comes from Azura, who had only told her about the differences in weather and geographical terrain.

She doesn’t actually know a thing about what the towns in Nohr are like, where the Gyms are, or what the culture here is like beyond gossip she’s overheard in small Hoshidan villages. All she knows is that it’s completely different from Hoshido, and that was all she had needed to know to make her decision to leave.

“I don’t know,” Corrin tells her truthfully, shifting Kana to her other arm. “Do you have any suggestions?”

The Anna hums at that, tapping her finger against her chin in thought. “Well, there’s a small village west of here,” she says, and she motions for Corrin to hand over her Pokénav to point out the location she’s talking about.

Corrin gives it to her, and eyes the dot on the map that Anna points at. “Well, I suppose I’ll head there then. Is there anything special about that place?”

Shrugging carelessly, Anna pushes the Pokénav back into her hands. “It’s on the way to Windmire and Krakenburg, mostly. Although, it’s by the river and there’s a couple of abandoned forts near it. It’d be a decent place to catch some Pokémon, if you’re interested.”

Corrin nods at that, slipping the device back into her pocket and bidding all the Anna sisters at the Center a farewell. It’s a good enough place to start as any. She needs to start putting distance between her and Hoshido, before the regret and guilt overwhelm her and she ends up on a train back home.

She’s not ready yet.

The tight tangled-up mess that her emotions have been since the day Ryouma took her off to the side, telling her that it was time for her to leave on a Pokémon journey and prove her capability and do the Byakuya family proud, haven’t been unraveled and sorted out yet.

So she walks, with her Togepi in her arms, right out the automatic doors and into the cold Nohrian morning air.


End file.
